At 500 Republica, Obi-wan and Padme were having the conversation she'd been dreading all day. Not that anyone could tell. She was, after all, a consummate politician, showing and expressing only what she wanted the other person to see and hear. In that regard, she and the Jedi had more in common than the average Jedi would care to admit. For his part, Obi-wan got straight to the point.
"Senator, I need your help. Something is wrong with Anakin. He won't tell me what it is, but the way he feels in the Force, he's terrified of something. He's looked up to you since he was a boy and I know that you two are close. Is there anyway you could possibly talk to him? Perhaps get him to open up?"
For the second time that day, Obi-wan shocked Padme. She had been so certain that he was coming here tonight to confront her about her and Anakin's marriage and her pregnancy. And in a way, he was. It's just that he didn't know that he was.This gave her another problem. Lying to Obi-wan would be nearly impossible. While she could keep it off her face and out of her voice, the Force gave the Jedi a nearly unbeatable edge when it came to uncovering deception. All of this ran through her thoughts while listening to Obi-wan. "Of course Master Kenobi. I'd be delighted to help," replied Padme. "You know I consider you and Anakin two of my closest friends. Whatever I can do, you have my word. But, you know Anakin. Once he's made his mind up about something, it's practically impossible to get him to change it."
"Oh, yes. I'm quite familiar with my Padawan's stubborn streak. I also know that, out of everyone on this planet, you seem to have the ability to get through to him when no one else can."
Oh, if only he knew, thought Padme. Normally, yes, she could get Anakin to see reason. But this? Not so much. Unfortunately for her, a bit too much of her nervousness and fear for her husband was seeping into the Force and Obi-wan started to pick up on it.
"What could possibly be making her nervous and frightened?" he thought. Certainly he wasn't asking her to do something unethical or immoral. He thought she would leap at the chance to spend time with Anakin. Their feelings for one another weren't exactly a secret. Oh, he supposed they thought they were.But the two of them really weren't nearly as discrete as they thought they were. Of course Obi-wan, like most everyone else, had assumed that they would be professional enough about it to not act on those feelings. That triggered another line of thought for Obi-wan. What if they hadn't kept their distance? Could that be why Padme seemed so nervous? Was she worried that she and Anakin had been exposed?
With that, disturbing, thought, Obi-wan reached out with the Force to gently probe Padme's Force Aura. With a shock, he found not only Padme's Force Signature, but the signatures of two other beings connected to hers! Padme was pregnant! A second shock came a moment later when he realized that the two tiny Force Signatures growing inside her were vaguely familiar. They actually felt a bit like Anakin. Obi-wan felt his heart drop. He loved Anakin like a brother. But this? To say that Anakin would have some explaining to do was putting it mildly. There was no doubt in his mind that the Council would be forced to expel him, Chosen One or not. The truth suddenly rushed at him in a flood, as if a dam had burst and the Force had come flooding in to confirm what he thought. "Padme," he asked her gently, "you know why Anakin is troubled, don't you? I can feel it in your Force Signature. Anakin is the father, isn't he?"
For a split second, the politician's mask that Padme wore like armor, slipped. Her face registered her surprise, giving Obi-wan all the confirmation he needed that he was right. He placed his hand on Padme's and squeezed.
"Padme, I want you to know, Anakin is like my brother. The last thing I want is to cause him or you pain. You've both already had so much pain in your lives. But I truly am worried about him. He is slipping down a path that could lead to his destruction. I need your help." Before Padme could answer, the door to her apartment burst open.
Anakin had never been so deep into the Force before. Master Yoda seemed to be guiding him down long forgotten pathways. In that moment, Anakin realized just how little he knew and how, for all his power and potential, how much he paled in comparison to a true Jedi Master such as Yoda. Yoda was guiding him down into the Force, deeper than he even knew was possible, to help him get to the root of his vision. Part of the reason for it was simple fear. Anakin was terrified of losing his wife and child. That reason, conveniently, was sitting literally at the top of his subconscious. A little too conveniently according to Master Yoda (at least that was the impression Anakin had gotten from the Grandmaster, communicating in this state was somewhat difficult, though the mental whack across the shins from Yoda's gimmer stick that he had just gotten for getting distracted seemed to come through just fine). Concentrating once more, he and Master Yoda followed the paths that the Force was leading them down. As they went, Anakin seemed to feel the air getting closer, darker, colder. Continuing on, he seemed to sense a dark, glowing ball of black, as crazy as that sounds. With a start, he realized that part of that black ball of energy had entangled itself with his own presence! Could he really have been that close to the Dark Side without even noticing it? That shouldn't be possible. He would have felt it. Wouldn't he? He felt Master Yoda urging him on and followed the diminutive Jedi Master down.
For Yoda, it felt like a curtain had been pulled back, or a long locked door finally opened. For the first time in years he felt the Force the way it should be felt. Like a mist had been pulled away from his eyes and he rejoiced in it. For all the darkness he felt inYoung Skywalker's vision and tangled up within him, the young Jedi was still a beacon of light unlike any he had ever known, and the young man's presence was seeming to light the way. For Yoda, it was very much like seeing an old friend again as he traveled down into the Force, deeper than he had been able to in years. That was when he saw it. A dark tendril wrapped around Anakin, seeping into the boy's soul, poisoning his spirit. And leading directly to the vision of his wife dying, feeding it, enhancing it.
For Yoda, the admission from Young Skywalker that he had broken the code and gotten married really wasn't all that surprising. Oh, he acted like it was of course. But the old Jedi had long suspected that Anakin and the Senator from Naboo were far closer than anyone suspected. In other circumstances, he would have called Young Skywalker before the Council to explain himself. But now, with so few Jedi left, less than 10,000 when the Order had once numbered in the millions, they could not afford to lose one such as Anakin. So long as the young man had put his duty as a Jedi first, Yoda had made very sure he avoided actually knowing whether or not what he suspected was true. That was all moot now of course following Skywalker's admission. He thought this as he and Anakin followed the tendril down to it's source. Deeper and deeper into the Force. Yoda himself had only ever been this deep into the Force on a handful of occasions. And only when absolutely necessary, as going this deep, it was far too easy to lose yourself in the Force and never find your way back.
As the two Jedi approached the source of the darkness, Yoda began to feel as if there was something familiar about it. Pushing against it with the Force, he was met with a violent reaction, almost physically throwing him back. Just before being thrown back to consciousness, Yoda saw a leering face peering at them. One that had been horribly disfigured and scarred, but one that he knew all too well. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.
Hidden deep within The Works section of Coruscant was the secret lair of Darth Sidious. Here was his meditation room. Here was where he kept his most precious Sith artifacts, some dating back thousands of years to when the Sith had ruled an empire. It was here that Darth Sidious was free to cast aside his public persona of Sheev Palpatine and let his true self show. It was here that Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith, reigned supreme. After the disturbing warning he had gotten earlier that day, Sidious too had dived deep into the Force. What could have possibly triggered such a warning? Had he been betrayed? Had Tyranus planned something to expose him should he be betrayed? He felt his anger boiling up to the surface. He let it. It would prove useful in rooting out the source of his problem. Burying himself deep within the Force, he began to probe outward. Searching for who or what it was that was threatening to expose him and destroy all he had worked for. Suddenly, he found that his problem had come to him. Approaching through the Force were Master Yoda and Anakin Skywalker. Through the Force he registered the shock he felt from both of them as they recognized his Force Signature. With as much power as he could summon, he threw both Jedi back and felt the connection with them break. Pulling himself out of the Force as well, he understood with sudden clarity what had happened. That foolish boy had opened himself up fully to the Jedi and the light. Hiding nothing from them, he had lost his leverage over the child. Years of effort, carefully grooming the boy, building stress points in his psyche, applying just the right pressure to them, ensuring the boy would break exactly how and when he wanted him to, wasted.
With a snarl that was more beast than man, he began pacing in his chambers, trying to plan what he could do. The problem was, he had always had the Force to assist him with his plans before. But that meddling boy and the little troll had managed to tear away the veil the Sith had placed over the Jedi. For him to delve deeply into the Force now would be akin to lighting a signal fire leading straight to him. He was loathe to just discard Skywalker. He had seen what the boy could become. He could be the most powerful Sith to have ever lived. Unfortunately, it didn't seem as though he had much choice in the matter. He went to his holonet terminal and called up various reports that he had access to as Chancellor. Hmmmm, slightly worse than he had hoped. A fairly large percentage of Jedi, including most of the Jedi Council, were on world at the moment. Of course, that also meant there were more Clone Troopers as well. He would need more though to pull off what he was thinking. Unless of course, he came out into the open. Show the Galaxy what true power was. Crush the Jedi personally.
He sighed, resigning himself to throwing away Skywalker. Knowing that the boy would never trust him now, would never betray the Jedi. He would have to act quickly, before the Jedi could fully realize what had happened and react. Sidious began sending messages to various Clone Commanders and then placed a holocall. "Commander Cody. The time has come. Execute Order 66."